Conventional soft-tops for SUV's possess several desirable features for the SUV enthusiast. They are generally made of a water proof non-flappable material to provide protection from the elements and sunlight and a quiet ride. However, conventional soft-tops have a variety of undesirable features that have limited their widespread use by convertible SUV enthusiasts. Load bearing ability, ease of installation, and stability are key drawbacks of the conventional SUV soft-tops.
The compromise needed to make a non-flapping element-protecting soft-top for an SUV has always been that the non-load bearing soft-top's frame must maintain a delicate balance of tension on the material, thereby making it unsuitable for bearing significant loads. Normal SUV soft-tops, in their quest for a quiet ride and protection from the elements, must compromise with hard to install/uninstall frames or multiple straps that require time and tools for the install/uninstall process. This renders all current soft-tops unsuitable for bearing significant loads. Further, these conventional soft-tops are tensioned such that they do not flex enough to be comfortable when a load is applied as for instance when a person is sitting, or lying on top of the soft-top. Anyone who has used his SUV soft-top as a load bearing one has regretted it due to the resulting catastrophic damage to the soft top, the increased noise from violating the delicate tension required for such a soft-top, and the added risk of injury to the person who reclines on the soft-top. In addition to the potential danger associated with setting significant loads on top of a conventional SUV soft-top, is the problem of stability.
There is a need in the convertible SUV industry for a load bearing, heavy-duty, easy to install and uninstall, SUV soft-top that is of stable construction for reclining, and one which can be suspended on the roof top of an unmodified convertible SUV using the roll bars on the roof top frame of the SUV. The primary objective of this invention is to meet this need. The load bearing soft-top's ease of installation renders this invention one of the quickest and easiest to install, and uninstall, on the market.